The bilateral left amygdala, as defined in the Harvard-Oxford subcortical maximum probability (thr25, 1 mm) atlas, is a paired almond-shaped collection of nuclei located in the medial temporal lobe, anterior to the hippocampus and adjacent to the anterior portion of the inferior horn of the lateral ventricle. It is composed of several subnuclei (including basolateral, centromedial, and cortical groups) that integrate multimodal sensory information and relay it to cortical and subcortical targets. Functionally, the amygdala is critically involved in emotional processing (particularly fear and threat detection), emotional memory formation, reward and motivation, and modulation of autonomic and endocrine responses via its connections with the hypothalamus and brainstem. The left amygdala, like its right counterpart, participates in these processes but may show lateralized specializations in affective and language-related functions. Amygdala
The bilateral left amygdala, as defined in the Harvard-Oxford subcortical maxprob atlas, has been implicated in numerous genetic association studies, particularly GWAS of brain structure and psychiatric phenotypes. Variants near and within genes such as SLC6A4 (serotonin transporter), BDNF (especially Val66Met), COMT, and FKBP5 have been repeatedly associated with amygdala volume, reactivity, or connectivity, often influencing responses to emotional or threat-related stimuli. Large-scale imaging genetics consortia (e.g., ENIGMA) have identified polygenic influences on amygdala volume, with significant loci including variants near genes involved in neurodevelopment, synaptic plasticity, and immune signaling; several of these loci overlap with risk variants for major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. GWAS of traits such as neuroticism, social anxiety, and stress sensitivity also converge on genetic architectures that modulate amygdala function, with common variants in HPA-axis–related genes (e.g., CRHR1) and glutamatergic and GABAergic signaling genes contributing to individual differences in amygdala activation. Additionally, risk alleles for Alzheimer’s disease (notably APOE ε4) and frontotemporal dementia have been associated with altered amygdala structure and degeneration, while loci linked to aggression, impulsivity, and autism spectrum disorder show functional and structural correlates in the amygdala, underscoring its role as a key genetically modulated hub in affective, social, and stress-related neurobiology.
Overview generated by GPT-4o (2026).
Region ID: 10
Hemisphere: bilateral
Atlas: HarvardOxford sub maxprob thr25 1mm
Full Quality Version: Download MP4
Full Quality Version: Download MP4
Wali Sidiqyar*, Gaurav Rudravaram*, Elyssa M. McMaster, Trent M. Schwartz, Adam M. Saunders, Kurt G. Schilling, Bennett A. Landman "Introducing SPINS: A Shared Public Visualization Library of Neuroanatomical Structures." Medical Imaging with Deep Learning- short paper
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